Reports of Terry Gilliam’s death may have been greatly exaggerated, but that hasn’t stopped the film director and Monty Python troupe member from taking great pleasure in confirming them. After Hollywood film industry bible Variety mistakenly announced that Gilliam had passed away, sparking a torrent of mirth at its faux pas, the UK-based film-maker has taken to Facebook to “apologise for being dead”.

Variety’s pre-prepared obituary, titled “Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam, director of Brazil, dies at XXX” was accidentally published on Tuesday for unknown reasons. According to reports, it was live for several hours before the website realised its mistake. Variety later tweeted: “CORRECTION: Variety incorrectly published an article stating that director Terry Gilliam passed away. We’re deeply sorry for the mistake.”

Gilliam’s Facebook post was accompanied by one of the UK-based film-maker’s famous collage artworks, and read: “I APOLOGIZE FOR BEING DEAD especially to those who have already bought tickets to the upcoming talks, but, Variety has announced my demise. Don’t believe their retraction and apology!”

Terry Gilliam (@TerryGilliam)

I APOLOGIZE FOR BEING DEAD especially to those who have already bought to tickets to the upcoming talks, but,... http://t.co/aTM7rAAqd2

Twitter burst into joy after Variety’s error went viral, with Monty Python fans relentlessly mining the blunder for comedy gold. “Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam is not dead. He’s resting… he’s stunned… he’s pining for the fjords,” tweeted one user, in reference to the famous Dead Parrot Python sketch. Another riffed off John Cleese’s line in the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, posting: “Variety has downgraded Terry Gilliam from dead to ‘merely a flesh wound’.”